Why day 21?At day 21 flower remove the ones that are shading too much the lower bud sites, don't need to be too agressive, but a little defoliation is beneficial for sure.
Do it after watering/feeding them, they "recover/heal" faster that way.
I’m told the younger fan leaves tend to be more photosynthetically efficient than older lower leaves. On my most recent grow I started taking big fans when the benefits of removing a solar panel (i.e., more light on two or more shaded buds and their respective supporting leaves) outweighed the loss of a photosynthesis engine. It was a judgment call and I had to sometimes remind myself that I was clipping the plants’ energy sources. When in doubt, wait a day or two and reconsider.Im still relatively new at this and learning every day, so I would like to know if it is better to remove the large fan leaves on the upper (top) part of the plant to allow for better light absorption to the bud sights or to leave them and let them do what nature intended. It's in week 2 of flowering cycle btw.
Because usually is when the flower stretch is approaching its end and also when you are sure what to remove to make it right for the lower buds.Why day 21?
I have done the lollipoping and defoilation on most of my grows but never knew about the proper timing. Thank you, great stuff!Because usually is when the flower stretch is approaching its end and also when you are sure what to remove to make it right for the lower buds.
Some sativa's you could do week 4 too, but sativa's usually requires much less or even no defoliation.
You can also remove branches that are too low at day 21, known as lollipoping, to focus more energy for the branches closer to the lights.
I agree with pretty much everything that has been mentioned above......Lollipop and defoliation reduces very marginally the yield tho, BUT you "gain" that back n quality!!!
Agree with @Mikedin on tucking instead of snipping when practical.I strip the inner part of each stem on bushy plants, only leave the top 6-8” of foliage on each branch protruding out, everything inside will be shaded and hinder airflow through the plant, the plant should look near identical outside but should be near empty inside, I’ll take some pics later too dirty form the garden to go in the tent,
I leave pretty much all healthy fan leaves, try tucking them u til the node is taller than the leaf and it won’t be an issue and you’ll still have those leaves to feed the plant later down the road
Good clone opportunities on some of those inside nodes if they are strong enough
They look good. You might lean more towards pruning, but you're making good cutting decisions. I would decrease cutting into flowering because new leaf growth is decreasing.......but your plants look good.I'm a beginner and posed the exact question a couple weeks ago. I prune / defoliate my 2 plants every few days. Nothing crazy, but I definitely remove some leaves. These two photos were taken 15 days apart. Maybe if I didn't remove any leaves they'd be doing better, hard to know.
Thank you, I'm finally starting to figure this out. It's going much better than my previous grows.Lovely plant, btw.
It is one plant and today I removed a huge fan leaf on the top part of the plant because it was laying right on top of about 5 buds and I thought that the buds really needed it to be gone. Now I'm not sure that I did the right thing and the buds have got this far being shaded. I think that I'll just leave it be from here on out and let nature do it's thing.Also, is this 1 plant or 2? You say you're 2 weeks into flowering so you're definitely at the "stingy" stage. These are the leaves that will produce and carry you through to harvest. For the most part, the time for pruning fan leaves for new leaf growth has passed.
Leave it be as far as removing leaves that is. I'll definitely try opening it up some by tying down a little.It is one plant and today I removed a huge fan leaf on the top part of the plant because it was laying right on top of about 5 buds and I thought that the buds really needed it to be gone. Now I'm not sure that I did the right thing and the buds have got this far being shaded. I think that I'll just leave it be from here on out and let nature do it's thing.
Maybe, maybe not. Over many grows you'll get that feel for what's better........it's not about comparing a cut to 2 weeks later, of course buds are going to develop, time has passed. It's about comparing cutting to not cutting (a certain leaf). Would the development have been better if you didn't cut? Tucking is great, it's another little trick that's like cheating. You want to open up branches/buds to more light? Tuck the fan leaves down/in/under a branch and expose that branch........and you've taken nothing away from the plant's energy factories. All you've done is moved it. Most of the time they find a way to pop back up anyway. But you can get a few days of free non-pruning pruning.It is one plant and today I removed a huge fan leaf on the top part of the plant because it was laying right on top of about 5 buds and I thought that the buds really needed it to be gone. Now I'm not sure that I did the right thing and the buds have got this far being shaded. I think that I'll just leave it be from here on out and let nature do it's thing.
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